> Alan Hudson [mailto:giles@yumetech.com] wrote:
> Larry M. Augustin wrote:
> > I think that the concept of a "lifestyle business" is very important
> > here. All too often I see businesses where the principals are
making a
> > very good living for themselves, but they would not be able to grow
that
> > business to make a good living for 10 times as many people. Also,
> > lifestyle businesses are generally a bad investment; there's usually
no
> > way for an investor to make a return.
> >
> Guess it depends if you are an investor. But if you goal is creating
> open source software while getting paid then...
Yes, but we have frequent discussions on this list about how to raise
money to start FSBs. Recognizing that a business is a lifestyle
business immediately tells you that raising money from investors is not
an option.
> > There's nothing wrong with that kind of business. Many people make
a
> > good living with a lifestyle business. But when discussing FSBs, we
> > need to be clear which we are talking about. Venture Capitalists
are
> > not going to fund a lifestyle business. A lifestyle business is
likely
> > to employ 10s, not 100s or 1000s of people.
> >
> Why the focus on Venture capitalists? Focus on running a business
that
> is profitable on its own. Expand as you can instead of a big burst
and
> possible bust.
It's not a "focus". I see a lot of lifestyle FSBs that want to raise
money and want introductions to VCs. It doesn't work. A 12 person
business that is profitable on its own may not necessarily be able to
grow into a 50 person business. It may not work at 50 people. I see a
lot of people that have 12 person profitable businesses, and want to
raise venture capital because they can't find a way to get to 50 people,
and think that raising money will do it for them. That's usually not
the case.
> > I'd like to see the discussion focus on non-lifestyle FSBs because I
> > think those are harder to build but ultimately more interesting
because
> > they can employ a significantly larger number of people creating
free
> > software.
> >
> From a global/technological economic point of view I bet these small
> businesses are vitally important. I employ 5 folks in my niche
software
> business(3D graphics) that generates a lot of open source(200K+ LOC
last
> year).
They are vitally important. I think there are a lot of them. But is
that the future of FSBs?
Are the only "pure" FSBs are lifestyle businesses?
Are the only non-lifestyle FSBs mixed businesses like Sun and IBM?
Larry